Do you want 15 fantastic and cheap ways to organize your space and make things look neat and tidy? There are a few ideas for different rooms in the house, get reading and then get organizing!
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Before you get into it I’m going to level with you here. If you are looking for one of those Instagram-worthy pantry pictures, or an expensive set of matching organizers to make your closet pop, you’re in the wrong place. This article is all about how to get your clutter under control, and not spending much money while you do it. If you’re also looking for more tips on how to manage your money, head on over to https://lettinggolivingmore.com/budget/.
Now without further ado, here are my 15 favourite cheap organizing ideas!
Office and desk organization
- Use empty toilet rolls as pen holders, or for other stationery like rulers or scissors. Cover the roll in something pretty! You can use wrapping paper or even something rustic like twigs form the garden to cover the cardboard tube. To make it more sturdy, stick the toilet roll to a piece of square cardboard or even a small piece of wood, or an old drinks coaster. You can even put a few rolls together, cut to different heights, to make a bigger desk tidy.
- If you don’t want to use a toilet roll as a desk tidy, how about a mug? Most of us have too many mismatched mugs and cups in our cupboards. Sometimes there is one you can’t bear to throw away because it holds sentimental value. This cheap organizing idea is a great way to see your much-loved mug everyday, but it is no longer using up space in your cupboard.
- Jars are also a superb way to keep your desk organized. You don’t need to go to the store to buy expensive storage jars. Find a few different sized jars from items in your pantry. Use larger ones for pens, scissors and pencils, and smaller ones (like baby food jars) for paper clips and thumb tacks. It looks fancy, but it’s really frugal!
- Prefer your pens and other stationery off your desk and in a drawer? A really cheap organizing idea is to use an empty egg carton as a drawer organizer (12 egg is best). Have the egg carton open in the drawer. Put your pens, scissors, rulers and pencils in the lid. Put your smaller items, like paperclips, tacks, magnets and rubber bands in the egg holder cups. It’s budget-friendly, but so effective for keeping all of your clutter in its place!
Kitchen organization
- Make sure that papers that you need in your kitchen are well organized. Tape a plastic pocket inside cupboard doors so that your papers are out of sight, but easily accessible when you need them. I use these for take-out menus, for common weight and volume conversions, and for my kitchen printables. Use some inexpensive but sturdy plastic pockets; you can buy them cheaply from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dunwell-Plastic-Document-Transparent-Archival/dp/B08911CDQ1/ref=sr_1_15?dchild=1&keywords=clear+plastic+folder&qid=1597096647&sr=8-15
- Make the move to digital! Instead of keeping recipes written on scraps of paper and spilling out of your drawers or recipes books, a cheap organizing idea is to use a free app like Evernote. You can take pictures of handwritten recipes or your favourites from the recipe book, and put them into recipe folders. And save recipes from your favourite sites. And also write shopping lists or to-do lists. In the free version, you can sync across two devices so if you share an account with your spouse you will both have up-to-date shopping lists and to-do lists. It’s a great way to reduce the paper clutter from your kitchen and home.
- Instead of stuffing plastic bags into a cupboard and having them spill out every time you open it, use an empty tissue box for storing your bags. Old plastic bags are great to use as bin liners. Try to make the switch to cloth bags for groceries, and use up your old plastic bag stash over time.
Bedroom organization
- How many times have you been rushing to get dressed, and not been able to find the matching earring because your earrings are all together in one box? A super cheap and easy way to organize them is with an ice cube tray. Put each matched pair in one of the ice cube spaces, and never waste time looking for your earrings again.
- Do you have a drawer stuffed with scarves, which makes it hard to see what you have or find the one you want? Do you end up buying a scarf that is similar to one you already have, because it was buried at the bottom of the drawer and you couldn’t see it? Try using a toilet roll (yes, we’re going to be using these alot!) to hold each scarf. You can cover them in paper to make them look prettier, but it’s a really easy and cheap way to keep things in order.
- If you prefer to hang your scarves instead of keeping them in a drawer, try making this awesome DIY scarf holder. It looks amazing, but is really cheap and simple to make and will be a unique way to organize and display your scarves in your bedroom.
- Want to hang your scarves but not keen on making the scarf holder above? Just add several clothespins (or clothes pegs) to the bottom of a wire hanger, and hang one scarf from each clothespin. Just grab the hanger out of the closet whenever you need a scarf, and you can see everything you have without needing to tip out an entire drawer.
- A great and budget-friendly way to organize and display accessories like necklaces and handbags is with a pegboard. You can keep it simple with a plain pegboard like this one, or you can get your craft on and DIY an amazing accessories station like this!
Bathroom organization
- You can make a pretty and cheap cosmetics organizer using toilet rolls covered in paper and stacked on their sides. If you want something inexpensive but a bit more fancy, this cosmetic organizer is awesome, and it spins around so you can get easy access to what you need.
General organization
- Organize your cords with, you guessed it, empty toilet rolls! It’s a super quick way to stop your cords from getting tangled. You can write on the side of the roll what the cord is for, which means you’re never left staring at a cable again, trying to work out if you need to keep it!
- Use cut down cereal boxes as drawer tidies in any room of the house. If you want them to look prettier you can paint them or cover them in paper, but if you’re short on time then just use them as they are. You can use this for anything; organizing craft supplies, your junk drawer (we all have one…), even your remote controls!
I hope you loved some of the ideas above and are ready to give them a try. Before you do, I’d love it if you would jump into the comments below and share your best frugal organizing tips!
